Letters to the Editor

Oct. 21

Men: the Victims
Corey Pein’s article on domestic violence is deeply inaccurate. A woman can get a restraining order on a man merely by saying she’s afraid of him, and they do it all the time. Restraining orders are given out like candy. It requires no evidence and you don’t even need to allege wrongdoing. Also, the story makes no mention of false allegations, another scourge of the courts. Women make false allegations of domestic violence to get revenge or as a tool in custody battles. Meanwhile, men keep it secret when they are victimized by women. The net result is that domestic violence statistics are skewed to make it appear that men are the abusers and women the victims.Jay Lander
Santa Fe

Taught From Birth
Your cover story on domestic violence is wrong where it states “the vast majority of violent abusers are men.” An annotated bibliography of 256 studies demonstrates women are as physically aggressive or more aggressive than men with their partners. Mediaradar.org provides rich data showing women are just as likely to commit domestic violence, that men sustain over one-third of domestic-violence-related injuries, but are less likely to report it. A May 2007 Center for Disease Control [and Prevention] study concluded, “In nonreciprocally violent relationships (meaning only one person was violent), women were the perpetrators in more than 70 percent of the cases.” Yes some men are violent toward women. But most men have learned from birth to never strike a woman, and women are not taught the equivalent lesson. You can learn the men’s perspective on domestic violence at dvmen.org.Florence Vigil
Santa Fe

Humiliation
I appreciated the information, interviews and statistics in your article on domestic violence and I understand the outrage expressed by the reporter, but publishing the photo of a 70-year-old man, who had already spent time in jail, seems to me a tactic of humiliation that seldom helps the victim or the perpetrator. María Cristina López
Santa Fe

History Gutted
I have enjoyed Zane Fischer’s perceptive columns about the hideous reconstruction of the Hotel St. Francis. It used to be so charming but is now a Tuscan monstrosity—boring, pretentious, cold and barren. Not an ounce of warmth of the old hotel interior. St. Francis himself would have hated it. I blame Heritage Hotels [and Resorts owner] Jim Long and his well-paid minions for this architectural butchering. Zane is right that our Historic Design Review Board should protect the historic insides of public places—not just the outsides. For what good is protecting the shell of a building when its guts have been ripped out?

Bravo, Zane. Keep on taking on the corporate raiders who are bent on destroying historic Santa Fe under specious and greedy guises. Ty Lawrence
Santa Fe

Dining Pleasure
I was delighted with Zane Fischer’s review of Joe’s’ Harvest Wine Dinner. Hearing the convivial sound of laughter and clinking wine glasses, watching children and their parents enjoy a family meal, overhearing a neighboring table’s intellectual discussion, watching singles with their laptops working away in a corner or the tango dancers on selected Sunday evenings are a few of my reasons for enjoying Joe’s, and I haven’t even mentioned the delicious food, which is, for the most part, organic (a must for me) and often prepared to my order.

As a lover of Russian and Eastern European cuisine, the recent addition of Yuri “Z” (Zinchenko) to the staff fills me with anticipation! If, as I do, you love this food—and especially if you remember Yuri’s tiny café in Santa Fe Village—you will want to go to Joe’s soon.Nancee Cortes
Santa Fe

The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to speci?c articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Include address and phone number for veri?cation purposes; these will not be published.